Achi news desk-
TORONTO – Sheldon Keefe’s team had a decision to make.
The Maple Leafs head coach watched his players put in a terrible Game 4 performance on home ice against the Boston Bruins – one that left them sitting in a 3-1 series hole against an opponent that appears to be on cruise control to the second round of the Stanley Cup . tournament.
Last Saturday’s disastrous show also featured Toronto forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander bickering on the bench, and brought ugly narratives of past playoff failures bubbling back to the surface.
No heart. Not hard enough. Poorly constructed roster. Overpaid.
The Leafs could have packed it in. Instead, they decided to fight on.
“I challenged the group,” Keefe said Thursday after Toronto once again stayed alive to even its best-of-seven game with Boston 3-3. “When your back is against the wall and you face elimination, you will be remembered one way or another.
“How do you want that to be and look?”
Coming off back-to-back 2-1 wins — one in overtime in Boston and Thursday’s tough decision on the same ice the team was thrashed last weekend — Toronto likes the way things look heading into a winner-takes-all game Saturday 7 at TD Garden .
“They didn’t lay down,” added Keefe, whose team blocked 27 shots in Game 6 compared to Boston’s 14. “They didn’t accept their fate. They changed it.”
Aside from an ailing Matthews, who is clearly far from 100 percent healthy and has sat out the last two tilts after scoring 69 times in the regular season, Toronto has forced just its fourth Game 7 in the history of the franchise after scoring and a 3-1 series thanks in large part to their commitment to defense and the performance of rookie goaltender Joseph Woll.
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The 25-year-old replaced Ilya Samsonov – not terrible in the series, but outplayed by Jeremy Swayman at the other end of the rink – late in Game 4. Woll ran with his chance by allowing a paltry two goals in by in just over seven periods.
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Nylander, who missed the first three games with an undisclosed illness, was also instrumental after providing all the offense on Thursday.
“We came in with a mindset that we have nothing to lose,” said rookie forward Matthew Knies, who has taken his game to another level. “We’re just excited to get back (to Boston) and finish the deal.”
One team will buck the trend on Saturday. The other will have to answer more difficult questions.
Toronto has lost five straight 7-game series, including three to the Bruins (2013, 2018 and 2019).
The Original Six franchise’s only series win when they needed three straight wins to avoid elimination – the Leafs fell short in 2013 and 2018 – came in 1942 when the club made it four in a row after trailing the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 in the Cup. End.
“Great opportunity,” said captain John Tavares. “The group has stayed together, continued to work.”
Meanwhile, Boston is now desperately hoping to avoid becoming the first team in NHL history to blow 3-1 leads in consecutive seasons. The Florida Panthers, who await Saturday’s winner, roared past the Bruins some 12 months ago.
“We don’t live in the past and we don’t live in the future,” Boston head coach Jim Montgomery said. “We live in the present.”
Toronto winger Tyler Bertuzzi has a pretty good idea of what the feeling is like in the Boston locker room right now. He experienced last season’s fall firsthand in black and gold before signing with the Leafs in free agency.
“I think everyone is frustrated over there,” he said.
The Bruins, who have lost six straight games with a chance to eliminate a team as they slide back to TD Garden, are looking for answers.
“There’s always optimism,” Montgomery added. “There’s an opportunity to play in a Game 7. You grew up your whole life wanting (to be) a part of it. We have an opportunity to be a part of it.
“We have to get in there and we have to dig in.”
Left for dead less than a week ago, the Leafs have already done that.
“In my mind, we’ve already played two Game 7s,” Keefe said. “(But) all we’ve gained is another game on the schedule. As good as this feels and as proud of the group as you are for the effort they’ve put in and the results they’ve achieved…all we’ve done is earn that .”
The first franchise in NHL history to force a Game 7 after facing a 3-1 series deficit three times against the same opponent, the Leafs now have a chance to write a much different story than the one that looked less likely than a week ago.
Nylander was asked what it’s like to play in a final for the winners. The winger knows Toronto’s painful recent history in these moments.
“Special,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know if we’ve won one yet, but we’re up to the test.”
The Leafs have cleared a couple of major hurdles – with one more to come.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on May 3, 2024.
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& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
